Currency Converter

This converter pulls live rates from the Frankfurter API, which republishes the European Central Bank's daily reference rates. The ECB sets these at around 16:00 CET on each working day, so over a weekend you are looking at Friday's closing figure. For a Brit pricing up a 5-day trip to New York, that level of precision is fine - the rate you see will be within a fraction of a percent of what your travel debit card actually charges on the day.

What you will not see at the till is the mid-market rate. Banks, bureaux de change and most credit cards layer a margin on top, typically 1-3% at a high street bank, 3-6% at an airport bureau, and 5-10% on physical cash. Treat the figure here as a planning anchor, then knock 1-3% off if you want a realistic worst-case for budgeting purposes.

For a long weekend in Manhattan, a fee-free travel account (Starling, Chase UK, Monzo or Wise) usually beats every cash option. You get something within 0.5% of the rate you see here, no airport queue, no rough estimate of how much you should change. Carry £50-100 worth of local currency for tipping, taxis from older cab firms and small market vendors. Once your bill arrives, use the [Tip Calculator](/tip-calculator) so you do not over or under tip on top of an already-converted bill.

Two exceptions are worth flagging. First, countries with capital controls or thin ATM networks (Cuba, parts of rural Africa) where pre-purchasing cash is genuinely safer. Second, large transfers above £5,000 where you should compare a dedicated forex platform like Wise or Revolut Business against a live trader feed rather than relying on a once-daily reference rate.